Flyers and leaflets give you an inexpensive way to promote your gym and attract new members. Whether or not they offer an effective solution is up to you and what you decide to do with them. Not every flyering campaign brings you the reputation that you want or the clients that you need. If your campaign is not done correctly, you might end up running at a loss and dealing with a bunch of agitated residents complaining about the littering. To ensure that your flyering campaign brings you the good exposure and business that you need, you need to ask yourself the six basic questions:

1) Who?

People who receive the flyer will be establishing an initial impression about your gym based on the person handing out the flyers. So you have to make sure to hire an energetic, friendly, and polite individual because they will giving out promotional flyers to pedestrians and residents.

2) What?

Your flyers should have all the basic elements of a good marketing flyer – from the foundation and design to size and content. First, you need to attract attention, generate interest, and then ask for action. For the design, it can be easy to add too much of everything and end up with a tacky looking flyer. Make sure you aim for a minimalistic, yet attention-grabbing design. Use bold, eye-catching headlines with clear and concise content. Remember to stick with one or a maximum of two fonts, so that the design doesn’t look cluttered.

Keep your call to action short and precise, so that your audience knows exactly what to do and how to do it. Make sure your contact information such as address, phone number, and website is easy to find and printed clearly.

3) When?

While a flyering campaign may be successful for your gym, don’t forget to create a sense of exclusiveness. If your offers are available all year round, people might not be too keen on signing up for a membership. Existing members might even feel left out if you continue giving great deals and offers to new members.

To create a sense of urgency, make the offer valid for a limited period of time. Give out the flyers for just three weeks and then start again after a few months. This prompts your audience to become a member at your gym while the deal lasts, so that they don’t miss out on the excellent service and discounts.

4) Where?

It would be a good idea to target a specific area for your flyering campaign. Normally, people don’t like visiting gyms that are too far away from their home or workplace. That’s why you need to focus on prospective clients who can easily reach your gym and are most likely to respond to your campaign.

For your initial campaign, try targeting consumers living or working within a three-mile radius of your gym. Make sure you try to focus on both residential and commercial areas, so that you have a better chance of reaching out to a bigger audience.

5) Why?

An important element of a successful flyering campaign is to give your audience a reason why they should workout at your gym. Sure, the flyer will contain information about the service available at your gym, but does it seem intriguing enough for the readers to visit your gym? Make sure the flyer offers an additional incentive that’s not available anywhere else.

For instance, offer a free 30-day access to the gym and free tanning during that time period in exchange for bringing the flyer to the gym. Getting your flyers back will also help you keep a track of your progress and reach, as well as the effectiveness of your flyering campaign.

You can even come up with other interesting and useful offers that should appeal to the area covered by the campaign. At my gym, I offer the example noted above, but also give an additional incentive too, if they decide to sign up for a membership before than the 30 days free access runs out.

6) How?

When following through with a flyering campaign, it is crucial that you avoid littering no matter what. Give clear and strict instructions to your distributors about how they should give out or leave the flyers. For instance, if they leave it at a residential home they need to make sure that it is not vacant. They should stick the flyer securely at eye level in the door crease for optimum chance of visibility.

Over to you…

Have you had successful flyering campaigns?

If so, what do you believe made them successful?

If not, what do you think you should improve on in order to make them successful?